Chapter 165: A Patroclus Morning
Sue sat on the sofa in the lobby, watching Perlman and Elizabeth.
“Don’t worry, that patient will live.”
Perlman’s assistant, seeing her worried expression, placed his hand on her shoulder and comforted her.
“If Dr. Perlman says he’ll live, he’ll live. The doctor is a miracle worker.”
“A miracle…?”
“Yes, he might not be a high-ranking mage, but he has a strong belief in how he treats his patients. Like, ‘This is how you have to treat this kind of patient.’ And maybe that’s why the patients who are treated by Dr. Perlman recover quickly.”
The assistant had unwavering faith in his teacher.
As he had said, the soldier, whose abdomen had been completely ripped open, had narrowly escaped death. It was as if Perlman had grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back from the brink.
‘To think that a civilian doctor like that exists in a city like this… And he’s my uncle.’
He was definitely worthy of being called the only conscience of the Byron family.
While Perlman was tending to the soldier, Acrea, after running errands for the other doctors, had naturally started treating Perlman’s patients himself.
“So this is Acrea’s white magic…”
Perlman’s colleague, who had witnessed Acrea’s magic up close, gulped, as if he had seen a sacred relic.
Sue, after her break, was cleaning the area when she happened to make eye contact with Acrea. It was only their first day, but he was already surrounded by people.
Acrea smiled faintly at her. The same picturesque smile she had seen hundreds of times in the capital. Was it just her imagination that it seemed clearer today?
***
Day 6, morning.
She had gotten used to the work at the hospital.
Sue was still in charge of basic tasks, like cleaning the interior and grinding herbs, and Acrea, whose skills had been recognized on the first day, was now focused solely on treating Perlman’s patients.
The doctors treated the sick patients, and the treated patients were discharged with happy faces.
Sue was satisfied with the situation, feeling like she was contributing to saving lives. She could even understand how Melaine felt when she went out of the capital to care for the children.
It was an illusion, the illusion of being a good person.
But the hospital wasn’t a magical place where everyone lived.
That day, Sue witnessed her third death.
“Doctor… I…”
The man was an old man with a wrinkled face. He had lived a long life without any serious illnesses, and he was simply facing his natural end.
“Bennett… I can’t even give you freesia anymore… Ah… God is so cruel…”
He breathed his last, lamenting his own death, wishing he could have gone after his wife of 60 years, whose name he whispered.
His wife, children, and grandchildren mourned his death, their grief uncontainable.
Sue watched, her eyes filled with a hollow emptiness, as a person’s life faded away.
‘People… die.’
Even without a deliberate death like Damon Keron’s, people died. No matter how much people mourned, he was already dead. He wouldn’t come back. The memories of him would slowly fade away.
She felt a simple sadness.
The old man’s family couldn’t afford a grand funeral. His stiff body would be turned into ashes by the undertaker tomorrow.
While his children were making arrangements with the undertaker, his wife sat next to his body, holding his wrinkled hand.
“…Byron?”
Sue, lost in thought, didn’t even hear Acrea calling her name and left the hospital.
“Welcome.”
She followed the directions Elizabeth had given her and arrived at a small flower shop.
Sue bought a yellow freesia. She had forgotten to bring money from the hospital, so she could only afford one.
When she returned to the hospital, the old man’s family, having finished the arrangements, were just leaving.
“Grandma!”
Sue, after a moment of hesitation, clenched her fists and approached the old woman.
“Grandma, these are the flowers your husband prepared.”
She lied, holding out the flower. The old woman’s eyes widened in surprise at the brightly blooming yellow petals.
And then, she accepted the flower, her face filled with a distant longing, as memories of the old man and freesia surfaced.
Sue watched the old woman walk away, the freesia in her hand, then turned her head at a presence next to her.
“Byron, let’s go back.”
Acrea had been waiting for her.
They usually went back with the Perlman couple late at night, but today, they were allowed to leave early, as there weren’t many patients.
Sue’s face was blank on the way home. Acrea, breaking the silence, asked,
“Why did you give the grandma freesia?”
He recalled her face when she had appeared with a single freesia.
“I wanted to grieve with her.”
Her voice was flat, uncertain. She looked up at the starry night sky and said,
“Master Acrea, I tried to kill Lady Azette in the basement.”
“….”
“So I don’t have the right to grieve for someone else’s death… I wanted to make up a legitimate reason.”
“….”
“Is that… wrong?”
Her faint smile, under the colorless sky of the city, was tinged with a reddish warmth.
***
Day 10, morning.
“Hey, Sue, did you know?”
Dena, Perlman’s assistant, nudged Sue’s shoulder excitedly.
“Know what?”
“Acrea keeps looking towards Liza’s examination room whenever he has free time.”
“…? Why?”
Sue tilted her head, and Dena smiled meaningfully.
“Well, why do you think?”
Dena teased her, but Sue was too busy organizing the medicine chest.
“Hmm… If Master Acrea is doing that, there must be a reason. He’s that kind of person.”
“Hehe, that’s right, there must be a reason. A good reason.”
They had said the same thing, but their thoughts were different.
After lunch, Elizabeth, having finished checking the inventory, handed Sue a parchment with a list of items.
“They’ll give you these if you ask for them at the general store. Can you go get them?”
“Of course.”
Sue stopped what she was doing and grabbed her handbag. Dena, a good idea coming to mind, called out to Acrea, who was reading a book,
“Acrea! It’s your break time, right? Then come with her! Are you going to let a lady carry all those things by herself?”
Acrea read her mind. But instead of protesting, he just smiled faintly.
“My apologies, I wasn’t thinking. Let’s go together, Byron.”
“What? …Yes, Master Acrea.”
Dena chuckled, watching Sue’s troubled face. She never thought she would witness such an amusing scene in Patroclus.
They left the hospital, and Acrea led the way to the general store without a word. Sue was looking at the map, trying to find the way, when Acrea suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her along.
“Byron, this way is faster.”
They took a shortcut, as he had instructed, and they arrived at the general store.
“You know your way around.”
“I walked around the village on the first day.”
So he hadn’t been sleeping in his room on the first day.
Sue was surprised by Acrea’s thoroughness, and even more surprised that no one had noticed his absence.
Acrea carried the items they had received from the general store. It seemed like she was using the second son of the Acrea family as a porter more and more often.
Sue glanced at him as they walked. She couldn’t read his emotions, as his expression was always the same, but the weather was nice, they were alone, and she was in a good mood. Now seemed like the perfect time to say it.
“Master Acrea.”
“What is it, Byron?”
“This might be a bit late, but… thank you for what you did at the tribunal.”
She genuinely thanked him for hitting her father for her. She decided not to think about why he had done it, or how he would take her words. She had felt truly saved at that moment.
“In a way, I’m alive because of you, Master Acrea.”
If he hadn’t taken the punishment with her, she might have been stripped of her magic power and thrown into the wasteland, just like in the novel.
“I’ll prepare a thank you gift for you when we get back to the capital.”
Sue smiled brightly. It was the fourth time he had seen her genuine smile.
***
Day 12, morning.
It was their first day off in ten days. Sue, exhausted from working nonstop, slept until late afternoon, and then spent her free time copying Jean’s formulas from the theory book.
What had started as homework had become a hobby. And as she continued to copy the formulas, she was starting to understand their meaning.
Lapis came to her room, and she played with him for a while. It was mostly just letting him rummage through her suitcase. Luckily, Lapis was very interested in her suitcase.
But there wasn’t anything important in her suitcase, except for the pain reliever Jean had given her, which was running low, so Sue let him rummage through it.
“Sister! What’s this?”
Lapis, finding something interesting in the suitcase, ran to the bed where Sue was sitting.
“…Huh? Why is this here?”
“What is it?”
“It’s a music box.”
He was holding the conch-shaped music box. The magic had completely worn off, so it didn’t make any sound anymore.
‘It must have gotten in there when I was packing…’
Lapis quickly lost interest in the old, silent music box. After he left the room, Sue lay on the bed, fiddling with the music box in her hand.
“Hmm… Right.”
Sue sat up. She went back to her desk, pushed aside the theory book, took out a blank parchment, and picked up a quill.
[To my dear Noel,]
Sue slowly started writing the letter.
Thank you!